taking the fall. four state department officials facing discipline after the report on the failures leading up to the attack on benghazi. just a few hours before the hearing starts on the hill. president obama and speaker boehner digging in their heels with a dozen days to go before we go over the fiscal cliff. another day of painful goodbyes in newtown, connecticut. for the fourth straight day funerals of children gone far too soon. among our guests this morning, we'll be talking to senator richard blumenthal, senator johnny isaacson, congressman peter king. it's thursday, december 20th, and "starting point" begins right now. good morning, welcome, everybody. the first significant winter storm of the season is our starting point this morning. it threatens to derail some holiday travel plans for maybe millions of americans along with the snow. there's also a threat of tornados in the south.

the governor of wisconsin has declared a state of emergency even before the storm hits. six states across the midwest are under blizzard warnings. the system stretches all the way from the great lakes to colorado. the rocky mountain state already taking a big beating. 156-mile stretch of interstate 70 had to be shut down yesterday because of the snow. it reopened late last night. this morning, 36,000 people are without power in the state of iowa. lots of folks hoping to get a jump on the holiday travel rush, but they might have to turn to another plan. meteorologist alexandria steele has been tracking all of this for us this morning in the weather channel center in atlanta. >> there are blizzard warnings in iowa and tornado warnings in mississippi. the top of this comma had the cold section. this is where the blizzard warnings are. omaha to des moines, des moines to green bay is where we'll see the strongest winds and also a

foot of snow. on the south side of this you can see where the front is. look at these storms. some of them have been incredibly powerful. tornado watch in louisiana, mississippi and alabama. a watch means tornado positions, we could see them. tornado conditions are possible through noon. we've already had a tornado warning for mobile and we do have reports of minor structural damage there this morning from the last hour. just want to show you the forecast wind gusts. look what we could see in the next six hours. des moines, kansas city, lincoln, 40 to 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts. this access of the strongest winds moves into green bay, madison and chicago tonight. so chicago at about 7:00 is going to see the snow begin. it's going to change over from rain to snow at about 7:00 and then notice with this it may be tight, but look at this pressure gradient. this is where this incredibly strong winds are. this is kind of phase two of the storm. we had strong winds and snow. now more snow, stronger winds. by thursday night there's the snow tonight in chicago moving

eastward. you can see tomorrow morning right along the 95 corridor, that's where we'll see rain and rain only and it moves out by tomorrow afternoon. >> thank you for the update. there are only 12 days to go until we hit the fiscal cliff or go over the cliff. negotiations seem to be at a stalemate. optimism that was in the air a little bit earlier this week has now vanished. president obama and the house speaker john boehner seem to be butting heads and the rancor could be worse today when the speaker puts his plan b up for a vote in the house that would extend the bush era tax cuts on incomes up to a million dollars. the president has promised to veto the bill if it comes to that. let's turn to paul steinhauser in washington, d.c., this morning. it seems that everybody is digging in their heels at this point. do you see any hope on the horizon? we have 12 days. >> reporter: at least publicly both the president and house speaker john boehner are talking very tough. behind the scenes we're not sure what is happening. yesterday the president came before cameras and talked about the fiscal cliff after making an announcement on gun control.

two hours layer, the house speaker went in front of cameras and talked for 56 seconds before quickly taking off. here's what both men said. >> tomorrow the house will pass legislation to make permanent tax relief for nearly every american. 99.81% of the american people. then the president will have a decision to make. he can call on the senate democrats to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in american history. >> at some point they have got to take me out of it and think about their voters. and think about what's best for the country. and if they do that, if they're not worried about who's winning and who's losing, i think we can get this done. >> the big question today, soledad, does the speaker have enough support from his party to pass plan b. and if it passes, will that

derail bigger talks to try to avert the fiscal cliff. brand new numbers from a national poll, who should compromise more, which party should compromise more for bipartisan solutions. more americans say the republicans than the democrats. and who would be blamed, who would get the blame if there are no deals struck? more people would blame the republicans in congress than president obama. about one in ten would blame both sides. >> so what do you think the expectations are? do you think he has the votes in the house? >> reporter: he says he has the votes. we'll see for sure a little later today. it's not sure if all those tea pa party republicans or on board with plan b. john berman has a look at some of the other news this morning. the ripple effect of the attack on benghazi consulate hits capitol hill this morning. two state department officials are expected to testify in about an hour. this has caused a staff shake-up at the state department. there's been one resignation and three people on administrative leave. the review blamed systemic

failures and leadership and management deficiencies. u.s. ambassador to libya, christopher stevens and three other americans were killed in that attack. i'm joined by elise labott. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, the latest is this morning secretary clinton's deputies will be testifying, john. deputy secretary tom nides and william burns. secretary clinton is still suffering from a concussion. what i think is really interesting this morning is who's going to be chairing the morning session with the senate foreign relations committee. that's the chairman, john kerry, who is tapped to be the next secretary of state. now, of course there's a lot of questions in this panel report about the leadership at the state department, but there's also a lot of criticism of congress for not supporting resources for the state department security. let's take a listen to the fine balance that john kerry is trying to walk between trying to be tough on the state department, but also trying to show a little support.

>> the report specifically calls on resources. there's a need to put about $2.5 billion a year over a number of years into efforts to strengthen our security status in various critical places. >> reporter: so, john, if it's john kerry as we expect, in a couple of weeks he could be back before congress asking for money instead of being asked for money, as he goes for hi confirmation hearings. we could also hear from secretary clinton early next year. she said she'll testify. we also could hear today a little bit more about whether other officials should be held accountable. we had the top security official, assistant secretary eric boswell and some of his deputies resign. we'll see if the congress is calling for more heads to roll. >> interesting to see if there is more fallout. elise, thanks very much. in newtown, connecticut, three more children killed in the massacre will be laid to

rest today along with two teachers. final goodbyes to 6-year-olds catherine hubbard, beng win wheeler. a complete report will take months because they want to sit down with each victim's family and survivors. investigators also getting a clearer picture of the days leading up to the newtown massacre. friends of nancy lanza saying she was in new hampshire taking a short getaway at a hotel, about a four-hour drive from newtown in the days before the attack. she felt comfortable to leave adam home alone for three days. her soon shot and killed her the morning after she returned. six days after the newtown tragedy president obama is declaring gun control a central issue of his second term. he's promising his team will have sweeping proposals by next month and planned to use all the powers of his office to persuade the opposition. >> the vast majority of

responsible law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say we should keep an irresponsible law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war. i'm willing to bet that they don't think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas. >> the president's gun control team consists of officials from the justice department, homeland security, health and human services and the department of education, again led by vice president joe biden. so it's tough to tell from these pictures, but this is a 23-vehicle pileup in texas. one man died in this accident, at least ten others were injured. near zero visibility, which you can see triggered the chain reaction crash which included at least one semi. low visibility also made it tough for the rescue crews to respond. so today chances are you will see a brown truck somewhere. u.p.s. says today is its peak shipping day. 28 million packages expected to be delivered in the u.s. that's about 300 per second, and

u.p.s. says that's a record. tomorrow is the deadline to make sure your gifts arrive by christmas eve. >> another year, missed the deadline yet again. thank you. if you were waiting for not a gift but the day that tim tebow would be a starting nfl quarterback, you're going to have to wait a little bit longer. for now at least. tebow is not the answer for the struggling jets. listen to coach rex ryan. >> tim can play, you know, quarterback, do our traditional things, but to me i was just -- i just kind of made a decision that in my gut i feel that the best thing for our football team is for greg to be our quarterback now. >> that greg is the third stringer, greg mcelroy, who will start in place of the struggling mark sanchez. tebow obviously not very happy. the "new york daily news" is reporting he is going to ask to

be traded. not exactly a ringing endorsement or anything from rex ryan. i mean wow. >> nothing. can we just acknowledge the craziness here? we're talking about a football team that is 6-8 and is not going to go to the playoffs this year for the second consecutive year but the jets are the story and it's because of tim tebow who is this intensely polarizing player who electrified the country as a member of the denver broncos. >> do you think he's asking to be traded? >> i think that's definitely a possibility. i think mark sanchez, who is the other jets quarterback being passed over here, he could also be gone. there's a lot of turmoil. >> why are they not using tebow? there was this gigantic fan fare when he came in and i don't think in terms of playing he was a star, but certainly in terms of what he could bring for the team he was. why is this not the opportunity? they're losing anyway. >> of course. you'd think a team like the jets, which has always been into doing crazy things would not use tim tebow. it's very uncharacteristic to go

with a guy like greg mcelroy who they probably see as more of a future quarterback than tim tebow. it's highly unlikely you'll see tebow in a jets uniform next year i suspect. >> there's a conspiracy theory where people are saying they won't put him in because they're concerned he'll do well. which makes no sense to me. >> i think things don't look good for anybody anyway as it is. there is this theory that were they to put tebow in and he does a great job and wins the last two games of the season, people would say why wasn't he in midseason or from the beginning of the season? i don't know if that's actually true, though. >> this is a case of be careful what you wish for. the jets brought him in and wanted to create this energy and buzz and, boy, do they have buzz right now. >> they have tons of buzz and it's not the kind of buzz that you want as a football team. the thing that's so unusual is that they're just not even taking the car out for a drive. they're not even really trying it. they're not giving tebow the chance. that's the strange part of the whole thing. >> it could end his career, theoretically? or maybe he goes and plays somewhere else? >> i think like any quarterback

you want an opportunity. he hasn't gotten one in new york and i think he'd like to get one elsewhere. >> i love tim tebow. it just seems unfair. either play him but why take him away from being a star and letting him be an opportunity. i'm with you, tim, on this one. jason, nice to have you with us this morning. appreciate it. still ahead on "starting point" house republicans will vote on plan b today, but are they -- since the president says he's going to veto it anyway, is all this basically political theater as we get very close to the fiscal cliff deadline. we'll talk to the republican senator from wyoming, john barrasso, straight ahead. and in business news, home values, national home values at levels we haven't seen since 2004. how much more is your home worth? we've got the new numbers. i won't tell you how much it's down from the peak but it's worth more now than it was last year. you're watching "starting point." ♪

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welcome back, everybody. we're still arguing about tim tebow this morning. but we're going to turn now to also argue about something else. 12 days until the country reaches the fiscal cliff. that is roughly 280 hours. 280 hours. and then we're over the cliff. today the house republicans will vote on speaker boehner's plan b, which would raise taxes -- tax rates, rather, on people making more than $1 million if the two sides can't come to any agreement. we want to start with senator john barrasso, a republican from the state of wyoming. it's nice to have you back. >> thanks for having me. thank you. >> the house republicans will

vote on plan b. as we mentioned, $1 million would be the threshold. let's say hypothetically it does in fact pass the house. would you support it in the senate? >> well, you know, 53 democrats have already voted to support that in the senate earlier this year so i think it's wrong for the president to say he's going to veto it, soledad. it's an opportunity to make permanent the lower tax rates for 99% of americans. so i think the house, as leader boehner said, will pass it today. it ought to get a vote in the senate, an up or down vote, rather than games being played. it's too close to the end of the year. americans the at home want to make sure their taxes don't go up. i don't think we ought to raise taxes on anyone during economic times like these. the president seems fixated on raising taxes, but 53 democrats are on the record in the senate supporting this proposal. >> yeah, but that was like a lifetime ago.

technically if you make a million or more, your tax rate will go up and it's been spun as tax cuts, but is that just wording and really it's raising taxes? i mean that's what it is. like your taxes are going to go up? that's how it's going to feel? >> i view it as over 99% of all americans would make permanent the lower tax rates. i would think that the president should embrace this. i know americans all across the country, certainly in my home state in wyoming, would love to have these lower tax rates made permanent for them. so i think it's a responsible way to go. speaker boehner has shown real leadership here. the president, all he has proposed so far is his old budget, which failed in the senate 97-0. not even any democrats have voted for what the president has proposed. >> how is it not a tax increase, though? to me at the end of the day if you're paying more in taxes, that's a tax increase. isn't this ultimately republicans are voting for a tax increase, even if it's for the 1%? some people, as you know, have

signed the pledge that says that they won't increase taxes and some other things. so how is that not a tax increase? >> as you know, if nothing is passed, soledad, taxes go up on everyone on january 1st. the so-called bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year. so all americans are looking at their taxes going up on january 1st. and what the house and plan b is doing is saying, no, we want to permanently extend the lower rates for 99% of americans. otherwise everybody's taxes go up and people will feel those immediately, because withholding is going to go up in their first paycheck in january. so i think the responsible thing to do is what speaker boehner has proposed. i think we shouldn't raise taxes on anyone. but if we can make permanent, permanent these lower tax rates for 99% of all americans, i think that's a responsible thing to do and the president ought to embrace it. >> there's a poll out this week from cnn and the question is who

will be more responsible if the fiscal cliff happens, which is in just about 280 hours we go over the cliff. we've kind of turned from talking about days to talking about hours, which always scares me. you know who gets the bulk of the blame? the gop in congress gets the blame. they are held responsible. president obama gets 37% of the blame, the gop is 48%. for people who think it's both, that's 11%. how concerned are you about the backlash from an electorate that is already saying we feel it's the gop that's going to get a hefty portion of the blame here? >> well, my bigger concern is for the american people. i think if we go over the cliff, i see an economic disaster over the cliff in terms of a second recession, unemployment rates going up. but it appears to me that the president and howard dean as well as one of the leading senators, patty murray, has said, no, let's go over the cliff because they see political victory at the bottom of the cliff, which is one, as you just say, blaming republicans. number two, they get all of the

tax increases, all this new revenue they can spend on other new programs and additionally they get all the cuts to the military that so many democrats have wanted over the years. so they see kind of a trifecta over the cliff where i see economic problems for our country. >> there are plenty of people on both sides who have said, hey, let's go over the cliff which honestly scares me. i want to turn if i can and talk to you for a minute about benghazi and this damning report that has come out. the former ambassador to the u.n., john bolten, says that he believes that hillary clinton is basically faking her ill annessd that's why she won't come in to testify about this report. here's what he said. >> every foreign service officer in every foreign ministry in the world knows the phrase i'm about to use. when you don't want to go to a meeting or a conference or an event, you have a diplomatic illness. and this is a diplomatic illness

to beat the band. i mean i certainly hope it's nothing serious. >> he both says it's a diplomatic illness, i.e. faked, to beat the band, but then hopes it's nothing serious. do you agree with him that she's faking her injury? >> no. she was scheduled to testify today. i understand the situation. i do expect and want to have her as secretary of state testify in public, in person and on the record. and you know, even "the new york times" today soledad, has called for that in an editorial as soon as she is well, which i hope is very, very soon. >> senator barrasso joining us this morning. nice to see you, sir. thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me. fiscal cliff could have a big effect on your tax returns. basically in messing everything up. we'll tell you why you might not get your refund any time soon if congress doesn't act. some good news for homeowners. home is worth more than at least

last year. christine has the good news in just a moment. oh,this is jucier than i thought. we actully keep track of how many times this kid picked his nose? tongue's out, hair pulls, stink eyes, man we see eveything. oh, it's the old man. hold on, i gotta send something out. you can have two apps open at the same time? how'd you do that? it's the galaxy note 10.1 man, it just does it. how do you think they made it? magic. do more with the samsung galaxy note 10.1. [ male announcer ] with a select terrain dial that adjusts the jeep grand cherokee's performance for specific weather and road conditions... ♪ ...even heavy snowstorms...

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25 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans. miepgd your business this morning.

u.s. markets closed lower yesterday while fiscal cliff talks stalled. nothing like a 49-second rebuttal to the president to knock stocks down. u.s. futures are up slightly this morning. the fiscal cliff tango continues. meanwhile the irs is warning the fiscal cliff could wreak havoc on the tax system unless congress acts soon. in particular, this alternative minimum tax patch is a real problem. it's legislation that prevents middle class earners from getting slammed with a higher tax bill. every year congress extends a patch. the amt patch expires at the ending of this year. so unless congress acts before december 31st, 30 million taxpayers could pay higher taxes as a result and 100 million tax return filings and refunds could be delayed. tax season begins in just a couple of weeks and they still haven't figured this out. home values grew 2.5% over the last year. the biggest annual increase in home prices since 2006.

zillo has these numbers. the last time home values stood where they are now, may, 2004. we're going to get existing home sales data at 10:00 a.m. eastern. what i can tell you about home prices in the year, you guys, is if you live in schifchicago, at, philly or new york, home prices did not ricse. some of the place that had big, big falls had big rises but not for some of those towns like atlanta, philly, chicago, new york, just flat. >> christine, thank you. we're going to talk a little bit about a dangerous storm that's dumping snow and also bringing potential tornados to the south. we'll have a live weather update for you coming up next. then it was another day of terrible goodbyes to small children as they were laid to rest. we'll take you back to newtown, connecticut, as the community there is honoring the memory of the victims. that's straight ahead. we understand. ry , at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer

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[ female announcer ] one drop of ultra dawn has twice the everyday grease cleaning ingredients of one drop of the leading non-concentrated brand... to clean 2x more greasy dishes. dawn does more. so it's not a chore. welcome back, everybody. our team this morning, margaret hoover is with us, cnn political contributor and appointee in the bush white house. richard is with us as well, a writer for new yorker.com and adviser for bill clinton and christina is with us. nice to have you all. we saw you all at a christmas concert at our kids school and we were like now we have to go to bed. nice to have you all with us. of course john is sticking

around as well. we appreciate that. if you're watching us at the airport, you're probably delayed. watching more of millions of americans trying to beat the holiday travel rush and they might have to resort to a backup plan because of this huge winter storm that's whipping through the midwest right now. we'll show you some live pictures ahead as we continue to monitor the storm. but look at that, that's a blizzard warning in effect for half a dozen states. the system stretching all the way from colorado into the great lakes in wisconsin. in colorado, they have already felt the brunt of the season's first big winter storm. 156-mile stretch of i-70 shut down in the rocky mountain state both directions because of the snow yesterday. this winter weather system is packing wind gusts of more than 60 miles an hour. parts of iowa could see up to a foot of snow today. let's get right to our meteorologist, alexandra steele who's tracking the storm from all fronts at the extreme weather center in atlanta. >> no pun intended, right? we certainly do have some very strong fronts out there, incredibly powerful and

energetic system. soledad talked about airport delays. chicago already cancelling 90 flights and this will be chicago's first snowstorm of the season. the latest they have ever gone without snow. but we're not seeing snow yet in chicago. around 9:00, 7:00 to 9:00 tonight we'll see the rain change over to snow and the winds really kick in, so the worst is far yet to come. it will be later this afternoon and tonight for chicago. so a classic setup. the northern tier, there's the snow. severe weather on the southern side. you can see that's a tornado watch box in the southeast. mississippi, alabama all seeing the potential for tornados. southwest alabama has tornado warnings posted right now. already reports from this morning of damage in mobile. here's the northern tier of this thing. this is where the blizzard warnings are. omaha, des moines, right along this i-80 corridor, that's where we will have blizzard conditions. iowa virtually shut down with a foot of snow that will fall today. also green bay, you're expecting

nearly a foot of snow coupled with strong, gusty winds. so it's a snow maker. but what's making this storm so powerful are the winds. now, this is the next six hours. the access of the strongest winds, lincoln, des moines, kansas city right now gusting to 50. as we head through the next six hours after this, so from the afternoon tonight, we'll watch that 40 and 50-mile axis of winds move toward green bay, madison and chicago. that's what's setting chicago up and all those midwest airports for real troubles tonight. it's all going to move out again tonight. chicago changes over to snow and then the winds come in, guys. tomorrow morning in the northeast from new york to washington, it's just a rain maker and it moves out by tomorrow afternoon. >> what a mess. all right, alexandra steele for us, thank you for monitoring that. let's get right to john. we're learning more about the days leading up to the newtown massacre. friends of nancy lanza saying she was in new hampshire taking a vacation at a hotel. that's about a four-hour drive from newtown in the days before the attack.

they say she felt comfortable leaving him alone for three days. the morning after her return, she was dead. take a look at this photo. all but one of the students in this first grade class picture were killed. all but one. that's really another reminder of the enormity of this tragedy. today funerals for three more children, two teachers and sandy hook's elementary principal, dawn hochsprung. sandra endo is in newtown following these developments. good morning, sandra. >> reporter: good morning, john. that's right, six more funerals here in newtown today and 6-year-old allison wyatt, 6-year-old benjamin wheeler, 6-year-old catherine hubbard, teacher lauren rousseau and teacher anne marie murphy as well as beloved principal dawn hochsprung will all be laid to rest. hochsprung will actually be laid to rest in new york. she is being credited for approaching the shooter initially and for implementing tougher security at sandy hook elementary. so devastating day today for

this community as they play more of their loved ones to rest. and this has been becoming a daily ritual here in newtown. we see processions of cars and funerals all throughout the day as well as into the night. we've seen people line up around churches, waiting in the freezing bitter cold just for a chance to say goodbye. we also understand that tomorrow at 9:30 in the morning there will be a moment of silence marking one week since the tragedy at sandy hook elementary and the governor also calling for churches around the area to ring their bells 26 times. john. >> sandra, thanks. it will be another somber remembrance. sandra endo in newtown, connecticut. coming up we'll talk to connecticut senator richard blumenthal who has been talking to people in newtown about coming up with sensible gun legislation. military prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty for army staff sergeant robert bales. he's accused of killing 16 afghan villagers in a shooting

rampage earlier this year. more than half of them were children. his lawyer claims he had ptsd and slammed the army for putting the death penalty on the table. in about two hours from now, the casket carrying the late senator daniel inouye will be in the rotunda. he was a world war ii hero, a witness to pearl harbor and the second longest serving senator in u.s. history. the funeral is tomorrow at the national cathedral. and guess what, there's a new miss universe this morning. for the first time in 15 years, she's an american. >> and miss universe 2012 is -- usa! olivia culpo! >> olivia culpo hails from rhode island. she was crowned miss usa back in june. >> i'm so excited for us,

america. >> the peanut gallery goes wild. >> we had no idea. >> i just got caught up in the moment there for a second. >> there was that dramatic pause, a five-second pause. >> it went on a long time. i enjoyed it. still ahead this morning on "starting point" a controversial documentary. it is crazy about a chimp that went to live with a family in the 1970s, where the family treated it as a human child. we're going to hear from a woman who was just a teenager herself when the chimp came to her home. we'll talk about that and the documentary straight ahead.

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today in newtown, connecticut, three children, two teachers will be laid to rest along with the sandy hook elementary school principal, dawn hochsprung. the mass shooting has put the focus on gun violence in this country, a subject that president obama says will now be at the forefront of his

administration moving forward. listen. >> so i will news all the powers of this office to help advance efforts aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. we won't prevent them all, but that can't be an excuse not to try. it won't be easy, but that can't be an excuse not to try. and i'm not going to be able to do it by myself. ultimately, if this effort is to succeed, it's going to require the help of the american people. >> yesterday a citizens group in newtown, connecticut, that's pushing for strength in gun control measures met to speak with the residents who had gone to washington, d.c., and discussed gun legislation. senator richard blumenthal was at that meeting. he's a democratic senator from the state of connecticut. it's nice to have you with us this morning. >> thank you, soledad. >> they have called for sensible legislation. what does that mean to them and what does that mean to you? >> it begins with common sense on a ban on assault weapons of

the type that was used in this horrific massacre as well as high-capacity magazines, also enabling this killing to take place. better background checks. right now only 60% of all sales involve any background checks. and improving those background checks. and of course keeping guns out of the hands of deranged people and mental health efforts. outreach and better treatment for people who may suffer from some kind of mental illness. and perhaps some approach to cultural violence. the celebration of violence in the media. but there's no one single, simple solution to this problem. and nothing that will prevent all of them perhaps, but as the president said so forcefully yesterday and sunday night at the vigil where he spoke power fully to the families and first responders as well as others of us who were there, we need to try. we need to do something. that's what i'm hearing from all the families as well as the law enforcement people around the

state. >> there's some people who would say by focusing on the assault weapons, the ban on assault weapons at the end of the day removes 2 to maybe 8% of the violence. that the bulk of the violence is actually handguns and to not take a look at handguns really leaves a massive portion of where the actual violence is taking place sort of unchallenged. would you agree with that? what would you do with that? >> i do agree that handguns are a threat on the streets of big cities like bridgeport, hartford, new york, killing children. and the president is right to focus on our children, who are the victims of this horrific massacre last friday. but also day by day, the drive-by shootings in many of these big cities. and so better tracing, better kinds of apprehension of stolen handguns, often the source of violence in our big cities, and law enforcement will tell you, and i've worked with them for 20 years as the state's attorney general before that as a federal

prosecutor in connecticut, that the proliferation of handguns is a major threat to them as well as to our children. >> senator, can i ask you, i mean i thought the things you mentioned were a very good list. but it's the same five things that we talk about every time this sort of thing happens. do you think it's going to be any different this time? and i think that you especially coming from connecticut are in a powerful position to take the lead on a lot of this stuff. i know you're trying to do that. but what about it is going to be different this time? >> what's different about it is the victims, these children, i think, are different not only in number but age and innocence and of course the teachers. yesterday i went to the funeral of vicki soto. a beautiful young woman with riveting blue eyes and a dedication to her children who stepped in front of the killer trying to protect them. and today, tragically, there are more funerals, more calling hours such as i've attended.

i think they have really captured the nation's attention and we need to seize this moment. that's why senator feinstein and i have moved ahead forcefully action even during this period of mourning, because we need to bring together the movement in the community, which is articulated by newtown united. i met with them in my office in washington and then again last night in newtown. and i think that we are at a historic moment. >> how will we know? what will we know if it's different? at what point can citizens say it's taking too long or the nra is slow walking this stuff again? it seems to me every time we say it's going to be different also, that's another similarity. >> we had that same conversation after columbine, which i covered. we had that same conversation after aurora and all the other ones in between. same conversation. >> remember that the first gun assault law, assault weapons law took five years to pass. it was first proposed in 1989 after the stockton shooting and

senators metzenbound and feinstein worked on it five years. i'm determined, i'm committed. but the president is absolutely right, that the american people have to stand up. i'll tell you what also is different. i've talked to a lot of these families and i am so impressed by their strength and courage and they say to me we want to be there. we want this work to go forward. >> cnn reported last night that there are tens of thousands of criminals who have lied on their background checks. that the fbi has identified and turned over to the department of justice and they simply haven't been prosecuted. in terms of enforcing laws on the books, what can the administration and the senate do now irrespective of new legislation? >> excellent point. and as a law enforcer, and that's what most of my career was about, i know that we need not only to improve existing laws and close these loopholes,

the gun show loophole, but also better enforcement. the best laws on the books are dead letter unless they are vigorously enforced. and the department of justice, at & f which has jurisdiction should be permitted to share more information. right now there are amendments on the books that prohibit effective enforcement. and it may seem like technical details, but vastly important and you're absolutely right. more resources. more support. and i hope that the kinds of outcry that we've seen will be translated into money for the department of justice as well as other kinds of support. >> senator richard blumenthal with us this morning. we could talk about this all morning, it's fascinating. we'll see. i'd hate to think we'll have to wait five years to have some actual tangible change. still ahead this morning on "starting point," a very bizarre book and documentary tells the

story of a chimp that was sent to live with a human family back in the 1970s. it's called "nim's story" and it is very controversial and sad too. we'll meet a woman who was just 13 when the chimp basically became her brother. that's straight ahead.

controversial store ye of a ch chimpanzee sent to live with a family to learn sign language. they brought the chimp to live in new york with one of his former students and her family. >> wouldn't it be exciting to communicate with a chimp and teach him sign language and that's essentially why i started "project nim." >> everything was about treating him like a human being. he loved driving fast in cars, he liked alcohol. i breast fed him for a couple of months. it was the '70s. >> that last one there was jenny lee, she was 13 years old when nim became to live with the

family, the documentary called "project nim" debuts tonight on hbo. jenny lee appreciate your time this morning. >> sure. >> this seemed so crazy and also so sad. tell me about what it was like to be 13 years old and have your new brother be a chimpanzee. >> it was the most exciting thing that could have ever i mean happened to me at that age and the whole family. we were a blended family. my mom remarried, there were seven kids all of a sudden and instead of three and four together it was the brady bunch gone -- >> with an ape. >> exactly. and i thought what greater thing could happen than having a chimp and it was announced to us we're going to get a chimp and teach him sign language, great! >> it seems so weird now but the things in the house, was it complete chaos? >> it's described in the film. there's one of the other researchers describes coming into the house saying it's

complete chaos. in some ways it was chaotic but what house with seven kids is not chaotic. we were all high school and middle school, so coming and going and everybody had a different schedule and all of that sort of stuff. >> your mother was breast feeding the chimp. >> this is a very controversial issue. >> yeah. everyone goes what? >> and i have to say at the time, i was not aware, i don't think anybody in the family was particularly aware that she was doing that. so it wasn't like, you know, you hear about the strident breastfeeding women nursing their 5-year-old sons. >> compared to that? >> he was an infant. he was a newborn, helpless infant and i have a daughter and i, you know, when he ka came toe house, you're bonding and he's

helpless sort of and all this, and she had three kids and it was i think very natural for her to try to comfort him in that way and it didn't, you know, sort of knowing that later that that had gone on it didn't really strike me as that weird because he was so close to, i mean he was most of the time a brother. >> the story is so sad. >> it's a very sad story. >> ended up leaving your house, went to another home and eventually went back out to oklahoma. >> that's right. >> and then he was sold for research. >> that's correct. >> so this little infant became aggressive and hostile. >> well he grew up, and chimps are very strong, and he was not a particularly aggressive chimp. he was just a chimp, and so he became unmanageable. it was unsafe to keep him in a situation without more control, you know, separation.

>> how horrible for him. if you were feeling he was your brother you must have felt he was, too. >> heartbreaking. >> to go from being treated human to a medical research. >> absolutely so from my looking, that all happened the year i graduated from college and part of me and my friends were sort of like we're getting in a van, we're going to drive to upstate new york and we're going to rescue him and then it's like, and then what am i going to do? he's a full grown chimp at that point but the fact that the scientific community as a whole would let him down is what was so upsetting to me >> seems to me in all of this, important issues raised about how we treat chimps especially in captivity now and while this is an interesting personal story for you, right, there are many larger issues about finding a way to treat chimps and other

like species because they're very much like humans and they are often not treated with respect and the dignity they deserve. >> brutal. >> i worked for 14 years at the bronx zoo, was part of the team that designed the congo exhibit and it's like well all those gorillas are in captivity and you struggle with the issue and what i found the way you resolve that, this colony of gorillas is, a, well cared for, b, there's a plan for their entire life, they're going to be taken care of. >> unlike nim and he died at an early age, it's called "project nim." thank you for talking to us. >> the breastfeeding thing still odd. >> still a little odd. >> a lot uncomfortable. >> you should have seen him with the birthday cake on the table. he was really happy. >> nice to have you with us. >> thanks. >> strange story though.

still ahead, testimony in washington, d.c. today on all the things that went wrong, very wrong in benghazi that led up to the attack on the u.s. consulate. who was to blame and is anyone going to be fired over it. senator johnny isakson is going to join us this morning and a passionate speech from winthrop university's basketball coach about a tough loss but wasn't talking about basketball. he was talking about newtown, connecticut, and the action everyone needs to take next. that's ahead. share "not even close." share "you owe me..." share "just right." the share everything plan. shareable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. hurry in for a droid incredible 4g lte by htc for $49.99.

good morning everybody. welcome. giant winter storm is threatening holiday plans nationwide, a foot of snow up north and down south a possible tornado. a father also a head basketball coach gives a very passionate post game speech that has nothing to do with the game. >> parents, teachers, rabbis, priests, coaches, everybody needs to step up. >> that's pat kelsey, we'll talk about his newtown wake-up call. game of chicken, president obama, speaker boehner digging in their heels again with a dozen days to go before we go over the fiscal cliff. the truth behind this viral video of an eagle swooping down and snatching a baby.

we'll talk to students who fooled millions coming up. >> thursday, december 20th, and "starting point" begins right now. welcome. our team margaret hoover, richard socarides, former adviser to bill clinton, chrystia freeland from thompson reuters and johnbermen as well. everybody's with us. christine is sticking around, too. the family is all here for the holidays. major winter storm blanketing the midwest. there is a blizzard in effect for six states. colorado's already been clobbered. snow has forced officials to close 156 miles of i-70 in both directions yesterday, they were closed for hours.

the storm stretching as far north as wisconsin, packing wind gusts over 50 miles an hour. emergency management officials in milwaukee offering advice to anybody looking to beat the holiday travel rush. >> i think the first thing you should think about is changing your plans for thursday. >> anybody looking for some advice? don't go is basically what he's saying and this just in to cnn, showing you pictures from mobile, alabama, where the storm's done considerable damage, downed trees, power lines down, too, lots of stores suffered damage. there was a tornado warning earlier there this morning, brings us all to meteorologist alexandra steele from the weather channel's weather center. >> good morning to you soledad. this is a powerful storm with a big bite and long legs. we have blizzard warnings here in iowa and as soledad mentioned tornado warnings in the deep south and southwest alabama.

we did have a tornado warning for mobile cruising right up 635 so we still have a few tornado warnings. tornado watch for the southeast, you can see it there delineated in the red box until noon, the atmosphere is ripe for tornados to develop and we've seen that. foot of snow and of course from the south side a potent system with strong thunderstorms. all right, so when will it end? that's the big question. chicago has not seen snow yet this season. it's been 290 days, a record. tonight at about 7:00 we'll see that rain change over to snow and get into some very robust winds, gusting 50, 60 miles per hour. as we head toward tonight chicago will be in the snow. if you have midwest travel plans thursday forget about it, already canceling and delays in chicago. the worst is about to come tonight. also tonight where this line of rain is west of the 95 corridor but tomorrow morning it will be so the toughest travel tonight

in the midwest, tomorrow morning in the northeast, boston, new york, washington, behind this system even a lot of winds so you can still see these tight isobars. that means strong winds even as the storm exits tomorrow. >> i hate when you say the worst is let to come. thank you, we appreciate the update. the ripple effect of this scathing report on the consulate attack in benghazi is our next topic and hits capitol hill today. two state department officials are about to begin testifying and it's also caused a big staff shakeup, one resignation, three folks on administrative leave. senator johnny isakson, you're in that hearing so we can't keep you very long. we'll get right to it. what do you want to hear, what is the main thing you'd like to get out of the hearing in. >> if you read the report and listen and we had secure testimony from admiral mullen and ambassador pickering, there

was a failure in the chain of command in the state department. the state department recognized early on this was not a spontaneous attack, it was a militia attack and four americans lost their lives and to a certain extent the state department failed in its duty to protect those officers. >> the report lists a lot of people, points a lot of fingers and there's a part that talks about budget cuts. for many years the state department, they write in this report, has been engaged in a struggle to obtain the resources necessary to carry out its work with varying degrees of success but also had the effect of conditioning a few state department managers to favor restricting the use of resources as a general orientation. who do you think gets the blame or is it everybody? they blame congress, frankly. >> well they do blame congress but before this report was finished they had already implemented additional security in 19 missions around the world that are high danger zones. i think this was a failure of

standard of duty on the part of state department, not a failure of congress. >> secretary clinton said the cuts were too big in 2011 and a consulate like the one we saw is at the bottom of the list in terms of things they value so the idea that the funding would go to the most dangerous places and things less valued would get the least money and she had asked for more money. >> we always have requests for more money and a demand but you have to prioritize within the money you have. you have to do a cost-benefit analysis. the benefit for investing money is in saving lives, not having parties or doing trips, so i want to see the standard of care they did, looking for the cost-benefit analysis before i accept any blame on behalf of congress for not funding enough money for the security of our diplomats. >> here is what john kerry said about this report.

>> the department has taken a huge step forward to address lessons learned from benghazi, which are important to everybody. there are 70,000 employees over there. there are 275 different posts. people are at risk. it's a dangerous world we're in, and i think this report is going to significantly advance the security interests of those personnel and of our country. >> do you think ultimately this report is helpful as senator kerry seems to be saying although if you look at it, nobody has really named the report has been named to be fired, one official resigned and three others are on leave and many people are getting they'll never come back from administrative heave. does that go far enough? >> we need to continue the hearing and we need to get the answers and the secretary has to bring closure testifying before korng as to what steps have been taken to correct the errors and

failures of duty on part of the state tent. >> the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., john holton says her illness is basically faking. he didn't mince words about that. do you think she's faking? >> i would never accuse the secretary of faking it but i do think it's at the appropriate time she needs to be before the committee to say not only why, what failed happened in the first place but that's being done within the department to see it never happens again. >> senator isakson we appreciate your time, thanks for talking with us. >> merry christmas. >> likewise, appreciate that. john berman has the rest of the day's stories. >> is it days left until the nation goes over the fiscal cliff and negotiations do not seem to be going well. the optimism that president obama and house speaker boehner would reach a deal appears to be damaged. speaker boehner will put his

plan b to the house, the president promised to veto the bill all know there ises' really no chance it will ever reach his desk. a final good-bye to sandy hook elementary principal dawn hochsprung and three students and two teachers. police say it will take months to complete they want to sit down with each victims family and survivor. investigators are getting a clearer picture. friends of nancy lanza saying the shooter's mother was in new hampshire taking a short getaway at a hotel, about a four-hour drive in newtown in the days before the shootings. she felt comfortable enough to leave her alone for three days. her son shot and killed her aftthe day after she went.

ruling party candidate park geun-hye is promising greater engagement with north korea. and i love this picture, friendly neighborhood spider-man dropping by the white house, president obama playing with a kid in a costume spreading all over the internet. the photo was posted on the president's facebook and twitter accounts. joking saying spider-man's angry because his income is over $250,000. >> can we all fix the fiscal cliff before we head over it? >> spidey says don't raise my taxes. >> spidey says wrap this up before christmas. the power of basketball has the mike and cameras trained on him talking about a big game to send a message to president obama and speaker boehner, we'll talk to pat kelsey about his speech about newtown that is making waves this morning.

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we'll keep watching. gun stocks bounced back yesterday after three days of losses following the school shooting in newtown. ruger, smith & wesson and cabela's posted gains. stock getting a lot of attention, more licensed firearms dealers in this country than there are supermarkets and mcdonald's locations combined, not just gun shops. that's also collectors, it's also dealers, people who go to go shows and sell from there. profits expected to reach nearly $1 billion for the guns and ammunition industry according to ibs world researcher. and home values grew 5.2% over the past year, the best year for home prices since 2006, ahh, 2006. zillow says the last time they were this high was may of 2004. one place where values did not

rise, new york, philadelphia, atlanta, chicago, some of the bubble locations like phoenix up 20% year over year. >> i think it collapsed. >> they were absolutely collapsed. >> thanks christine. next story up is the story of a college coach loses a basketball game to a big ranked, fourth ranked ohio state buckeyes, that wouldn't be huge news but the winthrop university eagles, the score was 55-65 and what happened at the end of the press conference making waves. the losing coach made an impassioned plea that had nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with the sandy hook elementary school shooting in connecticut. >> parents, teachers, rabbis, priests, coaches, everybody needs to step up. this has to be a time for change, and i know this microphone's powerful right now because we're playing the fourth best team in the country. i'm not going to have a

microphone like this the rest of the year, maybe the rest of my life. >> pat kelsey, head coach of the winthrop eagles head basketball team. >> i didn't vote for president obama, okay, but you know what? he's my president now. he's my leader. i need him to step up, okay? mr. boehner, the speaker of the house, he's a xavier guy, a cincinnati guy, he needs to step up. >> really you were saying we need to change, regardless of what political side of the aisle you're on, you need to change. so what do you see is change? what is the change that we need to get to, do you think? >> well, you know i think it's like if i relate it to my business, the fight's not in the locker room. the fight's on the court. obviously we're going to argue behind the scenes as a coaching staff and we're going to prepare but when we take the court we're all on the same page so obviously i would think bipartisan -- i'm not a political activist and it's something that maybe i'm a little bit ashamed of and maybe my civic duty and one thing i

can do on the move forward is invest more time looking into the issues. there's a huge faction of people that believe passionately this is a gun issue, they think it's a mental health issue and it probably is but the other thing i talked about is sort of a deterioration of the core values what have it means to be an american, what it means to be, what's right and wrong, for something like this so unbelievably tragic, a massacre of these proportions to happen under our watch is scary. >> terrifying. >> someday i'll be gone and my wife will be gone and my two little girls will live in this society and we pride ourselves on being the greatest country in the history of civilization and for something like this to happen in a kind garden class shakes me. hopefully it's an impetus for change that what's the answer? i'm not someone that's going to push my religion on anybody else but somebody walked the earth 2,000 years old that set the ultimate example, the perfect

example of how you act, how you live and how you lead and if we follow that example, you know, as a whole, we'll all be better off. >> you've said in your remarks you said i'm going to be an agent of change for the 13 men that i coach and also my two daughters as well. what specifically do you think individual can see do? for a lot of people and i spend a lot of time in newtown, connecticut, over the last several days. you feel very at a loss for like what can i as an individual do? >> the guy that taught me to coach, a man named skip prosser, unbelievable mentor no longer with us today, he passed away of a heart attack. he said crush it where you're at, where you're at dot best job. people say how did i get to be a head coach in the acc? where are you? a junior varsity in san francisco. be the best junior varsity coach in the country, everything else will take care of itself. lead those young men and set a

positive example. everybody in a leadership position and everybody to some extent is a leader, whether you're a parent, whether you're a boss of a company, set a positive example of the right ethics, the right values, the right way to carry yourself and i can do that for the two little girls and the one on the way that i'm raising, and for the 13 young men that stare at me every day and look at me as an example of how we roll and how we operate and how we move forward. >> pat kelsey, winthrop eagles men's coach basketball team. nice to have you with us. i thought your remarks were remarkable. appreciate you joining us this morning. >> thank you, it was a pleasure to be here. >> crush it where you're at. i might get that done, do what you can do where you are. could the newtown shooting have been prevented if any teaches on the site were men? there's a very controversial

opinion that's being circulated. we're going to talk about that, straight ahead.

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okay, so the craziest article i've read in a long time has to do with the sandy hook elementary school massacre written by a woman named charlotte allen and it's in thenationalreview.com and claims if there had been men at the school, at the time of the shooting that they actually could have saved lives and she writes this, i'm going to read a chunk of it. "some of the teachers managed to save all or some of their charges by rushing them to closets or bathrooms but in general, a feminized setting is a setting in which helpless passivity is the norm."

>> hmm. >> i heard your gasp. it gets worse from there. charlotte allen, i'll go out on a limb and say she's not the sharpest tack in the toolbox and slate's response is brilliant. >> one of the most remarkable things about this tragedy is the courage, bravery and fierce resolve of the people who were in that school. >> of everyone, the children included. >> as a man, i can only say i would hope i would have an iota of that bravery should something that happen. >> it undermines the heroine of the principal, and all of the teachers. there's nothing by the book that any of them could have done differently as we look at it and what we know now. >> plus she's wrong. she says there's no teachers. of course there's male teachers at the school. there are men at the school. it's wrong in so many ways it's upsetting to read it. >> it is and makes me really

angry because all of these other arguments have men in schools and then everything will be okay, do this, do that. distracting us from what you were talking about with senator bloomfeld, this is a turning point in the united states and a hugely complicated set of issues but there's something simple at the heart of it which is america has too many extremely powerful guns out there and that is -- >> i think that's at the center but intersects with we have a lot of issues with mental health and we have a culture of violence and anybody who takes one of those themes is just going to be wrong, pick any one and you're wrong. it is all those things come together, access to weapons is one, mental health issues one, culture violence is another one. >> it really does require a comprehensive approach. one of the things that is so disturbing to me, when i was on the white house staff back in the '90s we had similar incidents and there was a

conference president clinton put together, we talked about the same issues, talked about culture of violence, talked about mental health, talked about assault weapons. president bush did that also. there has to be something different this time. >> i hope there is. we have to take a short break. still ahead as we head into our last half hour we'll talk about the weather, the storm moving across much of the u.s., snowstorms to tornadoes, we'll tell you where it's headed and we'll talk about the controversy over "zero dark thirty." some says it proves the filmmaker got access to classified information. peter king is live with us and wants a formal investigation into how this film was made. that's ahead. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%,

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welcome back, everybody. millions of americans are trying to beat the holiday travel rush and they might have to resort to a backup plan because of this huge winter storm that's now whipping across the midwest. here is a look at milwaukee where the snow's piling up on

the roads. there's a blizzard warning in effect, system stretching from colorado to wisconsin. in colorado they've felt the brunt of the season's first big winter storm, 156-mile stretch of i-70 had to be shut down in both directions because of snow yesterday. the winter weather system is packing wind gusts of 60 miles an hour in some places, parts of iowa could see a foot of snow today. here are pictures from mobile, alabama, the storm has done considerable damage there. it's hard to see because these are from overnight but trees down, power lines down and look at that damage. several stores also suffered damage, tornado warning in place earlier, brings us to meteorologist alexandra steele, tracking the storm from the extreme weather center in atlanta this morning. what is the update? >> thanks. we're looking at the pictures from mobile, another line of storms and more tornado warnings along i-65 in mobile.

these storms not quite as strong as they were during the hk and 5:00 a.m. hours where that damage was from. this is the picture, an incredibly robust storm, a classic scenario. this is where the snow is, this is where we have blizzard warnings from omaha, getting out of it in toward des moines and wisconsin that's where we'll see up to a foot of snow. the cold section there but a robust section, even thunder snow, that shows you how strong it is and here is the severe weather line where it is rain but we're seeing severe weather. here is the southeast, here is mobile. right along i-65, that's where there are reports of damage and more tornado warnings right after and along the same lines so kind of training over one another, so a very stormy southeast. it will all move through and clear out by this evening, kind of atlanta getting into it the latest and then it moves out by tonight. when will it all leave? here is chicago rain for you now but about 6:00 or 7:00 tonight this rain changes over to snow,

maybe two to four inches but the powerful wind energy with this is making it a strong storm. 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts so the worst for chicago yet to come. as we head through tonight rain is just west of the 95 corridor. new york, washington, norfolk gets into it, then it clears out and boston by the afternoon and a fait accompli, done deal. as the storm passes east of you, the winds are still strong and the temperatures will drop dramatically. soledad? >> that sounds like all is bad and none of the good, the doom speaker for us this morning, thank you, alexandra appreciate the update. john berman has a look at other stories making news. military prosecutors will seek the death penalty for robert bales.

his lawyer claims his client had ptsd was on his fourth deployment and slammed the army for putting the death penalty on the deal. one person is dead and sent more than 30 others to area hospitals, the chain reaction crash started yesterday afternoon when a tractor trailer struck several cars and caught on fire next exit 68, 60 miles east of new york city. the expressway was shut down in both directions for hours while suffolk county police continued their imagine. about 90 minutes from now daniel inouye will lie instate in the rotunda so the public can pay their respects. the democrat from hawaii was a world war ii hero, witness to pearl harbor and his funeral is tomorrow at the national cathedral. survey of drug use among teenagers marijuana use in 2012

leveled off after rising steadily for four straight years. the study called monitoring the future finds that 6.5% of 12th graders said they smoke marijuana daily, but get this, that's actually down slightly from last year. filmmaker jed apatow where a father plays with his kids and jokes about murdering them will not get cut because of the newtown killings. at one point in "this is 40" he lines up his triplets and says line up for murder, who wants to be killed, he then squirts the kids with the hose. jed wrote the scene two years ago. >> it's done sarcastically as he's talking to his kids but the timing on that. still ahead, too real for a reason? movie critics in the capital slamming "zero dark thirty" the hunt for bin laden.

an eagle snatching a baby right off the ground, take a look and they grab the baby and they're off, and then he drops the baby, but it wasn't real. it was fake. we'll talk to the students who created this video that went viral, that's ahead. so we celebrate our year-end with the "share the love" event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. by the end of this, our fifth year, our total can reach almost 25 million dollars. it's a nice reflection on us all. now through january 2nd. oh,this is jucier than i thought. we actully keep track of how many times this kid picked his nose? tongue's out, hair pulls, stink eyes, man we see eveything. oh, it's the old man. hold on, i gotta send something out. you can have two apps open at the same time? how'd you do that? it's the galaxy note 10.1 man, it just does it.

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000 is one of the hottest most anticipated movies of the year "zero dark thirty" a nail biting account for the hunt for osama bin laden. >> you really believe this story? osama bin laden? >> yeah. >> what part convinced you? >> her confidence. >> if you're right, the whole world's going to want to know this. >> the movie critics love it but "zero dark thirty" has powerful critics who do not love it. peter king says the filmmakers got classified information. we start with benghazi, that testimony has been under way for 39 minutes now.

what do you think ultimately the reports that have come out about what happened in ben zazie support a theory that there was some collusion or some kind of blocking of information from the white house? >> certainly all the information didn't come out and i believe it was contrived to go with the election. the fact is everything that was said publicly was very different from what was being said privately, what was known privately and seemed to fit into the president's narrative that the war against terrorism is over, al qaeda had been decimated and al qaeda has a stronghold in eastern libya. i think that we still have not heard what happened as to why the administration put together the story it did, why they continued for ten days two weeks afterwards to say it was not a terrorist attack when it was clear from the start it was. >> the report that is fascinating i think and clearly

spells out a ton of mistakes and it's a riveting read. the takeaway is this, no one engaged in misconduct or willingly ignored his or her duty. what do you make of that takeaway from this independent report? >> i think we have to look into that more. i'm not trying to blame people what happened before. i think mistakes were made, we have to find out why more security was not provided. my main criticism is the way from september 11th forward why the administration did not tell the full story and bedon't know why the security was not provided. to me we have to have testimony from people higher up in the department to say how high those decisions went, why the decision was made, that was a dangerous area and to have american lives at risk and not give them any answers. >> "zero dark thirty" have you

seen it yet? >> no. >> the director and writer, they met with the undersecretary of defense michael vickers. i'll read a little transcript you can find from judicial watch, a right-leaning organization. vickers says the basic idea is they'll make a guy available who was involved from the beginning as a planner, a s.e.a.l. team six operator and commander. boal says are you talking about, redacted the name, a guy name redacted his name and so he can basically can probably give you everything you would want or get from admiral olson or admiral mcraven and boal says that's dynamite, by the way. not to reveal in any way, he's one step removed he knows what can he and cannot say. he goes on to name a name and then redacted, is your point this is illegal naming the

s.e.a.l.? >> soledad i asked for this investigation a year and a half ago because there were many examples, i felt too much collusion, too much pressure being brought by the administration on people in the cia and the defense department. the reason i asked for it, people who are operators came to me and said the pressure was wrong. this is not my investigation, this is the inspector general and the defense department conducted a preliminary investigation and based on what he found he expanded it to a full investigation and now gone into further amplification of that. the incident involved mr. vickers was the inspector general referred that to the justice department but in addition to that we have the fact that they're using democratic lobbyists. they were brought to cia locations they shouldn't have been at, given sensitive information not made available to the public. did this violate procedures and the cia is already based on the

investigation they did, they've changed procedures based on the inappropriate action that was taken by a number of people in the cia at the pressure of the administration. i have no problem with the movie. i give president obama tremendous credit for killing bin laden. he gets the credit for that. my concern is having an administration lean on people in the defense department and the cia to provide sensitive or perhaps classified information is wrong. >> so mark boal would say the question is not about sensitive information, it's about classified information would be the focus and here's what he said when he was asked about that. >> i never asked for classified material. to my knowledge i never received any, and i think as far as the controversy goes, you know, how can i put this, it was an election year. it was surreal and bizarre to have, i mean there were major players in the republican party characterizing the script and the movie before i had even written a word. >> that's martha raddatz from abc doing the interview.

what do you think of what he's saying, all of this was about politics. >> who cares what mark boal says. secondly for him to criticize me saying this is a republican attack. no one gave president obama more credit than the taking out of bin laden. i'm talking about pressuring special operators, people who put their lives on the line pressuring them by hollywood producers. at the medal ceremony hollywood people were brought in and the operators did not know they were going to be there, they did not belong this. this violates the basic policies of the cia and the defense department. >> my question would be what do you do about that? they show up as a medal ceremony. >> they're not allowed in there. these are people who put their lives on the line who don't want anyone to know who they are and hollywood people are showing up and looking out, finding out who they are, getting their names.

that's wrong and should not be on it. >> is it illegal and what do you want out of it? >> it's not up to me. this is the inspector general. he thinks there's enough for the last year and a half to be carrying out this investigation. the inspector general thought there was enough to refer it to the justice department. >> if you had your druthers, what would be the appropriate response for the people who are responsible for this. >> i would say sanctions against anyone in the administration, i'm not talking about people being indicted, i'm not one of the mad prosecutors. i'm saying there should be action taken, names who did it and if they have to lose their jobs, if they pressured anyone, any special operator was pressured to talk to and deal with anyone in hollywood i think that person should lose their job. these people put their lives on the line and should not be forced to cooperate with a

hollywood movie. >> congressman peter king thank you for your time. >> thanks a lot. still ahead on "starting point" we knew it all along kinda sorta. this video which is a terrifying shot of what is that an eagle grabbing a toddler, a little baby, and then dropping the baby. well it's all fake. we'll tell you how they pulled it off, straight ahead. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken...

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check this out at nasa, replaces the bulkier ones they wear thousand. it can enhance astronauts mobility during spacewalks. if the suits seem familiar to buzz lightyear it's a coincidence. can you imagine nasa being inspired by buzz light year. >> i love it. there say new miss universe this morning and for the first time in 15 years she's an american. >> miss universe 2012 is -- usa!

olivia culpo! >> olivia culpo of rhode island took home the honors after winning miss usa back in june. >> congratulations. this is one of the videos that looks so weird it can't be true but really looks like it's real. take a look an eagle swooping out of the air and picked up a baby and then drops the baby. see there he goes, grabs the baby, baby is lifted off the ground and the baby is dropped. crazy. it turned out it's a well done fake, orchestrated by students studying 3-d designs. the baby and the eagle are not real. how did you come up with this particular idea? >> we make a lot of research on youtube on what was the favorite

subject topics of everybody so we come out with animals and babies. [ laughter ] that's how we started the whole idea and after this, we made a lot of brainstorming and we come up with this idea of an eagle catching a baby. that's pretty much it. >> and you looked at youtube, of course, because it's a class, so you're going to be graded. you got 100,000 views, that would be a perfect score. you ended up getting 10 million views of this video, so i guess it's a solid a plus for you. people went completely crazy seeing this and many people thought it was real. did it surprise you everybody thought it was real? >> well i mean, that was the point of the project, we had to integrate computer generated imaged into real footage. >> it's kind of a bizarre idea, right, it's a little far-fetched to some degree that an eagle would pick up a hefty actually

little baby. let's walk me through how you created it. we have video of you guys and the work as you were doing the cgis. let's show some of that while you tell me and maybe norman you can do that. what did you do, how did you do it? >> at first we had to create the geometry of the model so we had to build the eagle and the baby in 3-d and then we rigged it, we had to make a bone system for both of them and then we shaped them and add picture and then we integrate it to make the final product. >> it's very teamwork because everybody has his own specific mission on this, so i was doing some modeling, other guys doing texturing and lighting so it's ball teamwork. >> here is the slow mo of it. some people looked at it in slow mo and said they could see the clues that made them know it was a fake. what are we looking at in the slow mo picture that tipped us

off that this is not real? >> well at some point i think you see one of the bird, one of the wings missing in one frame of the image. another point the shadow comes in too fast or the eagle doesn't seem to grab the baby as tight as it shud but these are all things that we saw but not all of it. we never thought people would analyze it frame by frame and for us it was a like a big critique for our project. >> it was very fun. >> and you got a million views so who cares about some of the mistakes people found later. what will you do now? this is a class project, you're going to graduate. what do you want to do? what is the big goal? >> i don't really know now, getting a job in a good company for movies or advertising, i don't know, i really like the

sight of doing some independent animation movies and a lot of projects ahead that i don't really know what's going to be next. >> same thing? >> same thing for me. to work in the video effects movie industry in the end. >> i'll guess this is a pretty good toe right into the industry. nice to have you with us, nor mand and felix, congratulations. >> thank you. >> "end point" is up next. military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help.

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welcome back, everybody. it is time for "end point." i thought the coach who used the open mikes and lots of tv cameras to say america we need to figure it out and come together and it's not really about politics and it's not even as he said about one single issue, it's about really trying to figure out as americans what do we want to be and all the issues we have to confront to get to the place i think everybody agrees we have to get to, i thought he was wonderful. >> one of the big questions with the awful event, is it different this time or what makes it different this time than all of the other horrible events. when you see the coach who coaches in south carolina. >> has two little girls. >> a lot of people who may not have risen up before are getting vocal about the issues. >> it hits home because of the age of the children. it hits home because the most vulnerable of our society. >> which is sort of sad because people are, i mean -- >> 18-year-olds get shot that

should be terrible, too. >> the davis boy was shot, a case in litigation in florida, and we had his parents on the other day, that's a tragedy for their family. there's tons of gun violence that we could be doing multiple stories every single day and you know it just does sort of feel like -- >> the president was smart in his speech yesterday to bring up the other incidence of gun violence that have happened since the newtown shooting. >> i don't think we know if it's going to be different this time and that's what we're trying to get at when we talked with senator blumenthal. how long should americans wait before they start to say it's taking too long. if it takes, he said it took five years during the clinton years to do the assault weapons ban. if this takes five months it seems to me it's taken too long. you have to capture the moment in the political time i think. >> right but legislation -- >> no, but if you wait, it's a big problem. that's what the nra